Fate and the story of blood

Chapter 25: The Human named Killia

It was like she was in a deep pool of water, submerged in it and unable to swim up. Although the panic was apparent at first, quickly, she became aware there was no fear seeing as how she could still breathe right then and there. Her eyes were blurry and with the slowed movement as she pushed through the water, it appeared to her that it could be either a sea or a murky river. 

A pain throbbed through her sides and putting her hand on what was hurting, she found it to be the wound that was inflicted on her when she leapt in to protect that child of demons. Was that the right move to do? She thought she would never find that out, seeing as how this place could very well be the afterlife and she had already died through that interaction.

Though the place she was in wasn't what she had imagined the afterlife to be, maybe the church was wrong after all and heaven wasn't a sort of utopia those priests had said there would be. Yet as she pushed through the waters, her hands then felt what appeared to be a root of the tree and quickly, she pulled herself out of the waters to then find herself in a swamp. 

"What the... Where am I? Is this truly the afterlife?" She said to herself, unsure of the fact if she was in the right place but then she turned her head instantly after whispers came to be heard behind her ears; the cold blow of air startling her very core.

"A child of the goddess has descended and found herself in my domain, I truly wonder how these events came to be... Though I do not complain, as a being of myself, coming to meet yet another soul is truly a wonderous event, I am quite lonely you see~" The voice spoke, the sly-natured and ominous voice sounding out around the lady.

"Who goes there? Where am I? Are you god? Is this the afterlife?" She blurted out questions as she frantically looked in each direction to figure out where the source of the voice was really coming from.

"Who knows? I might be a god or I might not be, this might be the afterlife or could be something just in your head all along... All there is to know right now is you and I are here together for the time being..." It said once more and soon, an apparition of the sort then manifested before her, standing crooked and adjacent to her as it examined every inch of her.

Towering over her as she dripped of water, it revealed itself to have a horse's skull in place of where its head should be and along with that it didn't appear to have anything below it other than the floating hands it extended towards her. With the uncanniness the being emitted, she felt a sense of unease, her very mind telling her that he may not be the most trustworthy of people.

"What do you want, I don't have anything on me right now so please just leave me alone. I couldn't have given you anything if I wanted to." She said towards it as she shuffled her body slowly away to keep her distance from it.

"Quite straight-forward this one, though unfortunately, I can't leave you alone even if I wanted to. This place is much smaller than you think and that is because this whole place is nothing but your own consciousness. If there is nothing else you'd like to say, would you like to hear my tale instead? I assure you that you will wake up soon and this story won't take long... So how about it little lamb?" It said towards her with the very same sinister tone it spoke despite it not moving its mouth in the slightest.

By a tree where vines hung from the branches and touched the shoulders of hers, she looked up toward the figure with scepticism though decided to accept his proposal seeing as how it couldn't hurt to just listen to a little story. Sitting atop a dead trunk, she adjusted herself until she felt comfortable and finally, he promptly told the story he longed to tell.

"Okay then, I'll begin now... Once upon a time, far above the clouds where transcendent beings lived, a pair of twins were born, that being a boy and a girl. The two children were particularly special since they were blessed upon birth. The two had shown immense potential residing within them at a young age and they were an inseparable pair that always played together. Though one day, it all changed from one little thing..." The creature told the black coat it wore seemingly wavering in a non-existent wind that blew under it.